All posts tagged ‘party games’

Some games are all about strategy, planning and clever thinking. Others are about cunning, patience or storytelling. Some games, however, are about none of these things. Some are simply about observation and fast reflexes — and Jungle Speed is one of those games.

The basic rules of Jungle Speed are almost as simple as they come. Players take it in turns to turn over the top card of their deck. If their card design matches one already on show then a duel is triggered and those players grab for the wooden totem placed in the center of the table. The player who grabs it first gets rid of their discard pile (where cards from your deck are placed if nothing matched before play returns to you) to the loser/s. The winner is the first player to get rid of all their cards.

Of course, there is a little more to it than that. Some cards look identical at first glance but are subtly different — make a grab for the totem incorrectly and you’ll be penalized with extra cards from the pot. Other cards (arrow cards) come out and change the rules: some turn the game from shape-matching to color-matching, some force all players into a duel together, and some trigger all players to reveal a new card.

Jungle Speed has been described as “the game most likely to cause physical harm” and it’s easy to see why, as when cards are turned over the players instinctively grab for the totem without making any kind of judgment about the relative positions of other players’ limbs. This is especially true when playing with young children or inebriated adults. If two or more players grab the totem at the same time then the winner is determined either by how many fingers a player has in contact with it — or, if this also matches, then by the player with their hand positioned lowest. Despite this rule I can imagine that in many households a totem-grabbing tie would easily result in some form of physical combat and as such I would suggest parental supervision at all times.

One of the great things about Jungle Speed is its portability. When we visit relatives these days we have to allow space in the car for a stack of board games, but Jungle Speed comes with a good quality printed canvas bag that can store all the game elements in a fraction of the space taken up by the box. The pieces are good quality too. The totem is nicely solid and made of wood with the game logo embossed on its top, and the cards are a good size — big enough for everyone to clearly see the pattern, but small enough so as not to be cumbersome. Even the rule book has some nice detail with a short section on the game’s “history” as a traditional game played by the Abouloubou tribe to choose their next chief.

I’ll be honest and say I didn’t really enjoy playing Jungle Speed as an adults game, although this has a lot more to do with the fact that my reflexes are slower than downloading a movie on a 56k modem than with bad game design. I don’t really stand a chance! My husband and I played together for this review and by the time my brain had cottoned on to the fact that my card was identical to his, he was already sitting across the table, one hand holding the totem and the other pushing a large stack of discards my way. Another strike against it for us was that both myself and my husband are quiet people with a tendency to slowly think things through; anything that involves rapid decision making and action is unlikely to be a hit with us.

All that being said, I did enjoy a version of the game that I adapted for my three-year-old, who spotted the brightly colored box and wanted to join in. The suggested age for Jungle Speed is seven plus, but by removing the arrow cards, revealing cards simultaneously on each turn and making the game purely about matching the colors, he was able to play a broadly similar version perfectly well. In fact he enjoyed the game so much he insisted on taking it to a friend’s house during a playdate. Naturally, depending on your child you might need to slow down your own reaction times a little in order to give them a chance at grabbing the totem, but my son was able to win some rounds without me even trying to help, which again might say more about my slow reflexes than anything else.

Jungle Speed will definitely work best as a party game and possibly in more extroverted households. With a little work it’s fun for little kids up to adult, but from what I’ve heard about flying totems I’d suggest removing anything fragile from the surrounding area and hiding the box if people have been drinking. Otherwise it makes a great, light-hearted addition to your games night — brilliant for when you’re taking a break from complex strategizing and role-playing.

Overview:Wits and Wagers Party is a trivia and guessing game. A simpler version of Wits and Wagers, players take turns answering trivia questions and guessing who’s answer is closest to being correct.

Players: 4+ ages 8+

Who will like it: There are several game types going on here for the player to enjoy including trivia, gambling, and party niches.

Playing Time: 15-30 minutes

What’s in the box?:

150 question cards, 12 tokens

50 poker chips

6 dry-erase pens

6 dry-erase boards

1 rules sheet.

Our guesses for when Elvis was inducted into the US Army. What year would you guess?

How is it played?: Start by giving each player or team (up to 6 teams of multiple people can play) a pen and matching set of board and markers. A question is read, and each team comes up with an answer and writes it on their board. The boards are placed out in order. Each team bets on which answer they think is the closest to the actual answer by placing their two markers in whatever place(s) they wish. The answer is revealed and the person with the closest answer without going over, along with who ever guessed that answer gain poker chips. This continues for six rounds. The seventh round players/teams can also bet their poker chips when guessing in addition to their markers. The person or team with the most chips after the seventh round wins.

When we played, we came up with the “Price Is Right” issue. It is up to you when you play, but if you let others see what you are writing for an answer, it affects what other players write. If you keep your answer secret and have all players reveal at the same time we had several duplicate answers, but it didn’t take away from the fun of the game.

It is also important to note, as the name of the game implies, this is a party game. It’s light and fun. If you are looking for a deep strategy game, this might not be for you.

Geeky Goodness: Knowing an abundance of useless trivia is a huge geeky quality in my book.

Hey, where can I buy this game?: This game is available at Wal Mart for $29.99 or at hobby and game stores.

GeekMom approved or “meh”?: Approved! I would buy this game. It’s fast, educational, fun, humorous, promotes party conversation, and can be played with pretty much anyone.

**A copy of this game was sent to me so I could play it and tell you if it’s fun**

In the weeks leading up to my daughter’s birthday party, she was so enthusiastic about her Skylanders party that I let her take charge of the party planning. It’s amazing how much simpler the party became once she took the helm. Kids are awesome like that.

The piñata in progress. Photo: Amy Kraft

If you’ve never played the video game Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, you should. The Skylanders are heroes battling the evil Kaos, and they represent different elements, such as air, magic, fire, tech, and undead. My original party plans had an activity for each element, but my little Skylander only really wanted one thing: a Skylander’s piñata. About a week before the party we got to work. I bought an oversized round balloon from the party store, and blew it up to a size that my daughter thought would hold a satisfactory amount of candy. Then we started in with layers of paper-mache. We followed a recipe of flour, water, and glue and a stack of free newspapers and neighbors’ discarded New York Times (it turns out that the Times has excellent quality newsprint for piñatas and fewer liposuction ads with women wearing thongs). We were patient with our layers, doing two the first day and two more during the week after the earlier one had totally dried.

We thought the piñata was going to be Kaos’s head, but halfway through the process we looked at this giant sphere, then looked at Wrecking Ball, who is 1) also a sphere, and 2) adorable, and decided that was the way to go. For Wrecking Ball’s horns, we made cones of paper, taped them onto our paper-mache shell, and paper-mached right over the top of them. The painting took several coats of paint, so have lots on hand. It also would have been awesome if our top layer had been lighter newsprint, and not, say, giant photographs that were mostly black. I read somewhere that if you do the last layer in computer paper you’re in the best shape for painting. That’s probably true.

A few of you have been asking in our previous Skylanders posts for ideas on what to do for a Skylanders birthday party. Couple that with the fact that I’m planning a party for my soon-to-be-seven Skylanders fanatic, and my tech gears have been turning. Here are some of my ideas and I invite you to add your own. With our hive mind, the Skylands will be saved from birthday Kaos!

My daughter and I tend to identify with some of the elements over others, me Undead and her Air, and that is the thread that carries through my party planning.

The Skylanders logo with a bit of my Photoshop trickery.

Invitations

With a little bit of Photoshop trickery, I was able to swap my daughter’s name in for Spyro’s. Sure it’s not my finest digital work, but it’s enough to convince a group of kids. Stick that logo into an Evite and I’m good to go! For those of you who admirably kick it old school and send out invitations, the element icons from the logo are easy enough to draw to adorn your invitation.

Decorations

Following the same icon drawing idea, grab balloons in the various colors of the elements and doodle the element icon on with a marker. Group the balloons to create element stations around your home or party space.

Name Tags

On their way in the door, have guests make name tags where they choose their Skylander name, their element, and their power. They can choose an existing Skylander, but judging from our recent writing contest, kids have no trouble coming up with Skylanders of their own invention.

Games

Plan a game or activity for each of the elements. Depending on the size of your party, you can either set up stations or have the kids hang out together as they transition from one game to the next.

Earth: Head to Michaels or your local gardening store to buy cheap clay pots. Provide paints or Sharpies (at your own risk) and have the kids decorate the pots in the theme of their favorite element or character.

Life: Plant seeds in the pots that are now dry from the Earth activity. Voilà! Party favors.

Cake

To stick with the elements theme, you can decorate cupcakes in the colors and icons of the eight elements, or you can go all out and make a Portal of Power cake topped with a real Skylander for your birthday boy or girl. Have a look at Flickr for some inspiration, and watch this mom’s how-to.

Please add more ideas in the comments! Together we can plan the best party ever.